Meet the only International cricketer who never stepped on to the field

No other player ever featured in International cricket without batting or bowling or fielding even once.

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Jelte Schoonheim
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Jelte Schoonheim. (Photo Source: CricketEurope)

Every budding cricketer dreams of making their debut for the country and getting the national team cap even if that is for just one match. Netherlands’ Jelte Schoonheim was one of the many players whose International career lasted only one match but he never stepped out on to the field. Schoonheim made his T20 and T20I debut in the final of WT20 Qualifier against Ireland in 2008 at the Civil Service Cricket Club in Belfast.

The game that was supposed to start at 1:00 PM local time, there was a delay in the toss due to bad weather conditions. The officials managed to get done with the coin flip around 1:30 PM just before the toss was completed rain returned once again. Ireland elected to bowl first after winning toss and the Netherlands named Schoonheim in place of Pieter Seelaar. However, the weather in Belfast didn’t allow the game to start and it was abandoned as no play possible before the cutoff time of 4:30 PM.

Only FC match

Thus, Jelte Schoonheim became the first and the only player in the history of International cricket who never batted or bowler or even took the field for even one delivery. He never featured in any T20 game or any professional match in his career after this game. In 2007, Schoonheim made his first-class debut in Intercontinental Cup for the Netherlands against Scotland at Aberdeen. It was his only game at the first-class level and he never made his debut in the List A format.

Jelte Schoonheim was one of the two T20I debutants in that game as the Netherlands’ Geert-Maarten Mol also played the first and only T20I match of his career. However, Maarten Mol represented his country in four ODI games before his T20I debut and in two matches after it. No other player in Men’s Internationals has ever featured in a format without batting, bowling or fielding even once. However, in Women’s cricket, Australia’s Jo Garey had a similar fate in her only Test match.

Jo Garey’s story

Garey made her Test debut in 1996 after appearing in six ODI matches for Australia between 1995 and 1996. She received her Test cap in the game against New Zealand in Melbourne where only 7.5 overs of play was possible. The first day of the game was washed out due to rain whereas the Aussies made 16/1 in the 7.5 overs on the 2nd day. The last two days of the Test match witnessed no play and Garey didn’t get to bat, bowl or field in the match.

She didn’t feature in any International match after this game while three of four other Test debutants in that game (two each of Australia and New Zealand) ended up playing a couple of more Test matches. The match turned out to be the only Test of New Zealand’s Karen Musson who did get a chance to field during the little play that was possible.

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